From the prior art it is known to fit impact beams in motor vehicles in the region of points on the bodywork which are at risk of impact. These impact beams serve to conduct the force produced in the event of an impact in a targeted manner into a force path in order to keep the passenger compartment stable, therefore, and thus to protect the passengers. An impact beam is designed to be as rigid as possible. However, it is non-visible component, resulting in the requirements also being set that it is produced as cost-effectively as possible and at the same time has a low dead weight.
Such impact beams in the region of the vehicle front or vehicle rear are known as cross members or even fender supports. The cross members are configured as an elongated component and generally extend over a large part of the motor vehicle width. The longitudinal axis of the impact beam, therefore, is mainly oriented in the motor vehicle Y-direction. Such cross members are coupled either directly to longitudinal members arranged at the ends of the motor vehicle or indirectly by the insertion of crash boxes or impact absorbers.
In the region at the side of the motor vehicle, impact beams are known as door impact beams. These impact beams are mounted in the interior of a motor vehicle door and connect a hinge side to a lock side of the motor vehicle door. The door impact beams are also configured as an elongated component and extend with their longitudinal axis substantially in the motor vehicle longitudinal direction, thus in the motor vehicle X-direction and/or at a small angle thereto.
In addition to the production of these impact beams as a steel component by means of a sheet metal forming method, it is also known from the prior art to produce appropriate impact beams from a light metal alloy, in particular from an aluminum alloy. An impact beam generally has an open or closed hollow profile in cross section. In the open hollow profiles the cross sections are generally configured to be C-shaped, U-shaped or even hat-shaped. For producing such impact beams, it is either known to shape a prepared plate, in particular made from a light metal alloy, by press-forming techniques such that said plate is brought to the desired final geometry.
Moreover, it is known to extrude a light metal profile in the longitudinal direction. Such an extruded light metal profile is also called an extruded profile. After extruding and cutting to length, the extruded profile is then brought to its final configuration by bending and/or press-forming.
A drawback with the aforementioned production method, however, is that the components are generally only produced with a uniform wall thickness and thus in order to achieve the required load-bearing capacity, in particular crash performance, they have a component weight which is consequently too high.